Broad but nuanced support for abortion rights
WASHINGTON — Arguments before the Supreme Court this week signaled the conservative-leaning bench may dramatically limit abortion rights in the United States.
The decision whether to uphold Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban will determine the fate of the court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.
While Americans likely won’t know the high court’s ruling until June, here’s where public opinion stands on abortion before the pivotal decision.
Overall, when asking Americans whether abortion should be legal or illegal, a majority of Americans side with abortion rights. In June, a poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed 57 percent of Americans saying abortion should be legal in all cases or in most cases, while 43 percent said it should be illegal in all cases or most cases. Relatively few Americans think abortion should be either legal in all cases or illegal in all cases.
The AP-NORC poll asked Americans whether abortion should be allowable if the woman’s health or the child’s health is seriously endangered, or if the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest. Most Americans say abortions should be allowed in all of those circumstances, including majorities of conservatives.
But support for abortion rights declines significantly for a woman who does not want to be pregnant “for any reason.” About half of Americans think abortion should be possible in that case.
Precedent established by the court has given states the ability to restrict abortion rights after the point where a fetus may be viable outside of the womb, or about 23 weeks. But in Wednesday’s arguments, Chief Justice John Roberts called a 15-week ban “not a dramatic departure from viability,” saying “if it really is an issue about choice, why is 15 weeks not enough time?”
Similar to support for abortion rights in general, the June AP-NORC poll showed a clear majority — 61 percent — saying abortion in the first trimester should be legal in all or most cases.
After the first trimester, though, most Americans support restrictions. While many still leave room for abortion in some cases, especially in the second trimester, majorities say abortion in the second or third trimester should usually or always be illegal.
In the second trimester, about a third say abortion should usually — but not always — be illegal, and roughly as many say it should always be illegal.
A majority — 54 percent — said abortion in the third trimester should always be illegal, and another 26 percent said it should usually be illegal. Just 19 percent said abortion in the third trimester should be legal in all or most cases.
While the high court’s precedent established abortion rights throughout the United States, upholding Mississippi’s law would give states the power to chip away at those rights.
The June AP-NORC poll showed Americans were closely divided over whether the federal government or state governments should have the larger role in making laws related to abortion, but leaned slightly toward national governance, 52 percent to 45 percent.
The poll finds 69 percent of Democrats but only 27 percent of Republicans say an abortion should be possible for a woman who does not want to be pregnant for any reason.